


More than a friend

by insectcondo



Category: Half-Life, half life vr but
Genre: Fluff, Half-Life VR But the AI is Self-Aware, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24707305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insectcondo/pseuds/insectcondo
Summary: a series of prompts involving fluffy Freelatta
Relationships: Tommy Coolatta & Gordon Freeman
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	1. Prompt 1: hair braiding

**Author's Note:**

> Part one, a PTSD ridden Gordon makes his way to visit Tommy after the incident in HLVRAI. 
> 
> Gordon deserves to be happy :)

"OH! HELLO GORDON," Tommy Coolatta answered the door to his apartment and swung it wide open for Gordon Freeman to enter. 

Tommy lived closer to the Black Mesa facility than he did, in fact, he didn't even live in the same state. No, he was never used to seeing flat desert and mountains until after he was relocated. 

Tommy's father the mysterious Gman had gotten connections to get Tommy the apartment in the breathtaking Nob Hill location in Alberquere, and was able to provide him with a significant discount on rent, due to his "influence."

Gordon was impressed, as he looked around. It was very modern both inside and outside, and very roomy. He kicked off his boots and left them on the mat where Tommy also had shoes and shut the door behind him carefully. 

"Hey, Tommy this is a beautiful place," Gordon commented as he followed Tommy into the kitchen, padding in his socked feet. 

"Thank you, Gordon, my dad helped me get it, and now I have my very own place!" Tommy looked so proud of him that Gordon couldn't help but smile back because his smile was contagious.

Just then Sunkist came bounding through the hall and jumped up on Gordon who knelt down and pet her head. 

"She missed you, Gordon!" Gordon ruffled the dog's golden ears, and then she leaned up to lick his face and also got his glasses, which he had to take off to breathe into and dry off on his shirt, before putting them back on. "She got an upgrade recently!"

"What was the upgrade?" Gordon asked sliding onto a stool.

"She can now do anything I want her to, after all, she is the world's perfect dog."

"I thought she could before."

"I mean, yeah, she could, but now she's completely debugged."

"That's actually really amazing that you were able to program her so thoroughly!"

Tommy went over to the fridge. "Is there anything you want to drink? Maybe some soda?"

Gordon winced. Another reminder.

"No no soda, I uh, I'm okay."

"I forgot, Gordon, I don't drink soda anymore, now all I like is fruit juice."

"You know what, fine, gimme a fruit juice."

They were sitting in the living room, on a very large, plush and comfortable couch. Sunkist was laying in her large dog bed chewing on a bone. 

"Okay, Gordon, I'm going to sit behind you, so please scoot forward."

Gordon pushed forward and sat at the edge of the cushion, not really sure what Tommy had planned until he felt the brush in his hair.  
"Are you - are you brushing my hair, Tommy?"

"Yes! Should I not be? Your hair is really long and pretty Gordon."

Gordon buried his face in his hands, completely tongue-tied because of how cute it was that Tommy just wanted to play with his hair.  
"I've actually never had anyone want to play with my hair."

"Your hair is so soft," and then he stuck his face in it, inhaling.

"DID YOU JUST SNIFF MY HAIR?"

"YEAH," Tommy exclaimed, "It smells good!"

Gordon took his glasses off and laid them on the glass coffee table, and closed his eyes. 

"So, Tommy how are you doing?"

"I'm doing good, Gordon! Sunkist and I have been having a lot of fun lately," he motioned with his free hand to the walls, and Gordon opened one eye and noticed the walls had canvases filled with dog paw-print shaped paint splatters. 

He shut his eye again and stayed still as Tommy continued to work at his hair.

"Those look great, and I'm glad you have a way to express yourself here," then he hesitated. "How are you doing with regards to... yknow, Black Mesa, all that fucked up shit?"

"Oh...." Tommy responded, and grew quiet for a while. Gordon kind of regretted bringing it up.

"It was scary and stuff, but I have an art therapist and stuff, so I think I'm actually doing okay," then he paused. "Gordon, you were the one who probably had the most pain from then, are you okay?"

Gordon shifted uncomfortably at how quick the conversation turned to him. In truth being near the desert again made him feel uncomfortable, but it was therapetic to finally visit Tommy, so maybe he was.

"I think, for the time being I am," Gordon admitted truthfully. 

"Make sure to take care of yourself, Gordon, your happiness is important!"

Gordon was a little choked up by that and he had to swallow down a lump in his throat. Yes, it was definitely therapeutic to have come.  
Tommy broke the silence that seemed to settle over them. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was a silence filled with comfort. 

"Where do you live, Gordon?" Tommy asked.

"Seattle, Washington. It's actually kind of close to Canada."

"OH! Gordon, I've never been up there before, maybe I could come to visit you?"

Gordon smiles to himself at Tommy's warm enthusiasm about everything. 

"That would be great! Have you always lived in New Mexico?"

"No, I used to live in Arizona, but then I moved here. What's it like in Seattle?"

"It rains a lot. Like you would not believe how much rain. But it's great, I love the weather a lot more there than the dry heat. It gets cold in the winter, but I feel like that's how it's supposed to be."

"OH GORDON I'M DONE."

Tommy handed Gordon a hand mirror. Gordon grabbed his glasses from the table, took the mirror from Tommy and he held it up and angled it until he could see what Tommy had done. His hair was tucked into a perfect braid. He ran his hand down it and not a hair was out of place.

"This looks really good, Tommy, I'm going to leave this in," he couldn't get the stupid smile on his face, and couldn't stop playing with his hair.

"Don't touch it, you'll ruin it!!" Gordon immediately sat on his hands. 

Tommy wrapped his arms around Gordon from behind and rested his head on his shoulder.

"You're never alone, Gordon, you don't have to fight anything alone," Tommy whispered.

A tear spilled out of Gordon's eye, although the smile still hadn't left his face.

"God, I love you," Gordon said.


	2. Prompt 2: Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy flies to Seattle to spend some time with Gordon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am having the best fun with this.

Prompt # 2: Sleepover

Seattle, Washington. It was months after the traumatizing incident at the Black Mesa facility and Gordon had begun to get into a semblance of a normal routine. 

He still lived in the two-bedroom house he lived in before when his now ex-wife left and took his son. It was a nice house, with a cute soft blue exterior. It didn't have a driveway or a garage, but that was compensated by lots of street parking spaces.   
The house was a newer house, but it had a lot of memories attached, and when he walked inside, relief just flooded him. His mismatched furniture, the scorch marks on one of the rugs, the broken dining room chair he propped up with a tennis ball. It was the small imperfections that made it feel most like home.

He had sold his car before he left, which was probably smart since the twenty-year-old vehicle was starting to have issues, and he could only imagine the headache that trying to contend with that, and his current stressors would be.  
Gordon was grateful that the US government had wired him money, probably to keep him quiet about the whole ordeal. It was a lot, probably more money than he'd had in one lump sum in his entire life. 

The first thing he did was buy a new car. Something fairly anonymous, cheap, but could get him to the places he needed to go. He settled for a Toyota Corolla just two years old, black, manual, and the basic trim, which still was a lot more technologically advanced than his former twenty-year-old vehicle. 

He paid for the full thing at the dealership, not even bothering to test drive it. They tried to charge more because he didn't require financing, and Gordon threatened to just walk off - while calling them crooks. In the end he managed to get the car for the asking price, and as he rolled it off the lot he felt really self-satisfied with the little scene he called. 

He hadn't driven for a while, so he did stall it a few times while switching lanes (luckily it was at a time when no one else was on the road, so he was able to correct with no other issues), but the car itself had very smooth handling. 

As he merged onto the highway, he activated cruise control and used the buttons on the steering wheel to turn the radio up, singing along loudly to all the songs he knew. He supposed all he needed was just mindless highway driving to get back the semblance of normalcy he thought he left behind. 

It wasn't a long commute and he looked over his shoulder to check his mirrors as he switched lanes and to his exit.   
He pulled in front of his house, put the car in park, engaged the parking brake and sat there for a minute, head drooped over his hands still holding the steering wheel. Being a normal person now took way more effort than it used to, but he was fine, everything was fine. He could restart everything. 

He didn't realize he was sobbing until he pulled his head up and noticed his vision was blurred from tears. His new car was not the place to have a mental breakdown. He shakily unfastened his seatbelt, opened the door and got out.

Gordon was eating take out with his feet up on his desk when he got a call, his phone vibrating and moving all across the surface. He picked up and swallowed the chunk of food in his mouth before hitting answer.

"Hello?"

"Oh, hello, Gordon!" Gordon could hear Tommy's smile through the receiver. "Remember when you came to my place, well, me and Sunkist were discussing coming tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Damn Tommy, that'd be great, you could stay here for a while, I have an extra bedroom."

"A SLEEPOVER PARTY, GORDON?"

Gordon chuckled, "Yes, exactly like that. Are you flying in, Tommy?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, I'll pick you up, what time will you be there tomorrow?"

"Five PM, Gordon!"

"Alright, see you then!"

"Bye, Gordon!"

Gordon was absentmindedly smiling at his phone even after he hung up. Living on his own was starting to get him stir crazy, it'll be great to have a friend over.

Butterflies were fluttering around in his stomach and he put a hand over it. He always got a lingering fuzzy feeling after talking to Tommy. He wondered if he was catching feelings.

Gordon woke up extremely early and buzzing with an energy that he didn't even have lately. After he made himself breakfast, he tackled cleaning the entire house. Vacuuming the carpets, washing the walls, doing all the dishes, even washed the toilet and shower. His hands were going to smell like the rubber cleaning gloves for a while, but at least it wasn't a bad scent. He's had enough of putrid smells.

He was so nervous by the time he left, he managed to miss the exit for the airport three times. He cursed himself out and went back on the highway looping back in a frustrating circle. 

"FUCK OFF, HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID?" he yelled at himself in the empty car. 

Finally, he made the exit and tried to get himself to calm down.   
It was 4:54 by the time he made it to the pick-up area. He pulled over, put the car in park and rapped his fingers on the steering wheel impatiently. 

Someone flagged him down and motioned for him to roll down his window. Gordon's heart thundered at the figure as he gripped the wheel. He knew security guards existed outside of Black Mesa, but his mind kept going back. Memories. That'll be good.

He rolled down his window. Keep it natural.

"Hey, yeah, you can't be here," Gordon gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

"Oh, uh I'm I'm picking someone up," he stumbled over his words.

"You have to go over to arrivals over there, there's an arrow," he was motioning with his finger. 

Gordon rolled up the window and was gone in that direction instantly. He was shaking, and sure enough, found the place labelled.   
There was a knock on his passenger door, and it sent him into a spasm of anxiety until he saw it was Tommy and Sunkist, and he relaxed immediately and unlocked his door. He got out and helped Tommy with his bags in the trunk.

"H-Gordon are you alright?" Tommy asked as he slipped into the car, and opened the back door for Sunkist to hop up on the bench seats in the back and lay down.

Gordon was still shaking. He took deep breaths to try and relax. 

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. How was your flight?"

Tommy made a face, "Really not fun, it was cramped and loud and they don't like Sunkist riding."

"Yeah, planes can be overwhelming. Don't worry, we can just go straight home and we can both wind down."

Gordon parked in front of his house, popped the trunk and carried Tommy's suitcase to the second bedroom, which was furnished with a twin bed and a dresser. 

"OH GORDON THIS HOUSE IS SO CUTE," Tommy was looking around with a giant grin on his face. 

"Oh, thank you, Tommy, it's nothing upscale like what you live in, but it's what I call home." 

"OH NO NO GORDON, THIS PLACE IS LOVELY."

Gordon riffled through his linen closet and found extra towels he handed to Tommy.   
Sunkist came in and Tommy took off her leash and she started sniffing everything in site. 

Gordon was getting sheets and blankets, and pillow cases, and was making Tommy's bed as Tommy filled the dresser full of the clothes he brought. 

"Wait Gordon, I brought you something."

Gordon looked up from wrestling the mattress to put the fitted sheet on.  
"What did you bring me?"

Tommy handed him a lumpy package that Gordon looked at in confusion. 

"It's a weighted blanket, mine is really good, but I thought you could use one too. It helps a lot with PTSD. I wasn't sure how much you weighed, so I wasn't sure how heavy of one would help, so I did my best guess."

"Tommy, this is - this is so thoughtful, I appreciate this so much," Gordon's voice broke a little when he thought of how fitful sleep had been lately. 

When Tommy had finished getting settled in, Tommy wandered into Gordon's room who had left the door open but had ripped open the weighted blanket and arranged his pillows behind him so he could lean against the wall comfortably and tried out the weighted blanket.  
He was pleasantly surprised. It was very heavy, and at first, thought that it was going to remind him of wearing the HEV suit, but it was... comforting, not oppressive. 

"Oh do you like it?"

"It's very I don't know how to describe, but it feels uhh-"

"Safe?"

"Yeah. It does feel safe."

"Gordon, do you have Netflix?"

"I do, why do you wanna watch a movie?"

"YEAH!"

Gordon booted up his laptop and launched Netflix. He was browsing through different movie options.

"Hey, Tommy, what are you in the mood to watch?"

"A horror movie!"

"A-A A- ho-what? Tommy, seriously?"

"Yeah, I sometimes like horror movies, it depends on my mood."

"Well, I-I-I I'm not usually good with them, but figuring I won't be watching it alone, I guess it's fine."

"Yeah! I'll protect you, Gordon."

That made Gordon laugh so hard he started coughing.  
Gordon slid his laptop to Tommy and let him pick a movie.

"Nothing with weird fucked up aliens, please," Gordon cringed.

"Yeah!"

So Tommy picked out a movie, and Gordon plugged his laptop into his Smart TV, then he settled back down under the blanket, and Sunkist jumped on the bed and layed in a corner and Tommy sat down along the wall beside Gordon as it played.   
The first suspenseful part and Gordon hid his face in Tommy's shoulder. 

"Are you okay, Gordon?" He whispered.

"yeah, I'm good, just got a little... freaked out by that scene."

Tommy took Gordon's hand and their fingers interlocked.   
"You can squeeze my hand when it gets scary."

Gordon's heart began to accelerate, and he felt his face flush. Tommy rested his head against Gordon's shoulder and they sat like that watching the rest of the movie. 

Gordon would occasionally tense and automatically squeeze the hand holding Tommy's and scream some obscenity, but there was something about the concept of people making a movie intended to scare people, and it was fake and wasn't as fucked up as the shit that actually happened to him. Thinking about him made him realize how corny the movie actually was. 

Maybe he can start to understand the appeal of horror movies, in a strange, fucked up way. 

When it was over they sat there talking for a while, but Gordon was only half-listening, he was just staring at Tommy as if in a daze.

"Gordon, did you hear me?"

"Uh run by me again?"

"I said I might go to bed now," Tommy yawned as if to clarify.

"Honestly, same. I actually enjoyed the movie."

Tommy jumped off of Gordon's bed and was walking out of the bedroom when he turned and stopped in the doorway.

"I'm glad I came, Gordon, this is going to be so much fun."

"I'm glad you're here, Tommy. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Gordon!"


End file.
